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| Keith Wood’s photograph of the U.S. Naval Academy sloop Zaraffa won Honorable Mention in the color photo category for its unique digital texture. |
Images as diverse and fickle as the weather won the 2007 Governor’s Cup Yacht Race Photographic Competition. The race began with a “washing machine” start and ended in dead calm that was captured by some of the best photographers on the Eastern Seaboard.
The winners: John Esparolini of Vienna, Va.; John Heng of Fort Mill, S. C. and Singapore; Jake McGuire of Arlington, Va.; and Keith Wood of California, Md. St. Mary’s College of Maryland sponsors the race and the photography competition. Winning photographs are on display in the Lowe House Office Building of the Maryland State Legislature in Annapolis (6 Bladen St.) through January 2009.
This is the ninth year the College has hosted the competition, which recognizes excellence and creativity in capturing the spirit of the Chesapeake Bay’s oldest and longest overnight yacht race. Dozens of photographs were judged.
First-, second-, and fourth-place awards for color photography went to John Esparolini of Vienna, Va. His first-place photograph captured the unsettled conditions but elegant uniformity of sloops at the start of the race. Esparolini will be awarded $250 and an engraved pewter plate for first prize. His second-place photo is a tight shot of the bow of a beautifully detailed sloop heeled over and cutting through the chop. Esparolini’s fourth-place photo of the yacht Clean Sweep reflects the tension and excitement of racing in the faces of two young sailors.
In the black and white category, Esparolini’s portrait of an old salt at the helm illustrates the concentration required to captain a race boat, and took third place in this category. Third-place winners also take home a Governor’s Cup trophy. In a newly created contest category, “Party,” Esparolini took first place for color photography. His shot of sailors relaxing after the race on the banks of the St. Mary’s River could be the digital counterpart to Monet’s “The Boating Party.” He also earned an honorable mention for his sunrise-tinged image of a graceful sloop with rail in the water.
John Heng, a sailor originally from Singapore and now living in Fort Mill, South Carolina, took first- and second-place awards in black and white photography for his haunting images of a sailor silhouetted in a gossamer sail and a sloop cutting through seemingly steep seas. Heng also took the third-place award in the color photography category for his “End. A New Beginning,” which captures the image of smoky musket fire from the deck of the Maryland Dove, signaling the finish for a yacht with its spinnaker full.
Jake McGuire of Arlington, Va., was awarded second place in the party category for his color shot “Dog-tired: Morning after the Night Race,” which shows sailors asleep in the grass after finally reaching the College. McGuire has published a series of photography books, including the photographic portraits of Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Annapolis, Tidewater, Va., and the coast of New England by air. His new coffee-table book of aerial photography of the Chesapeake Bay will be published in May.
Keith Wood of California, Md., took an honorable mention for his color photo of the U.S. Naval Academy’s sloop Zaraffa, which took home the